In training for my training!

I’ve had a bit of a practice with the training schedule this week before I start it for real next week. I upped my distance and did 4 mile runs on Mon, Wed and Fri mornings before work. I’m not really a morning runner and it’s a killer getting up so much earlier but on the bright side, it’s over and done with and it’s a bit cooler in the morning. I’m worried that if I leave my runs until the evening, I will be less inclined to get out there and it’s also very difficult fitting them in with the evening meals as well. For the moment, I shall stick to the mornings…

The runs themselves went well. My only slight worry is a niggling ache in my right buttock that I’ve had on my last two runs. I am okay at the start of the run but after about ¼ mile I am just going over a bridge when I feel a twinge in the butt – both times it’s happened when I got to the bridge. It’s enough to make me adjust my step but not bad enough to make me want to stop. After about 1½ miles it has practically gone, just a very dull ache and nothing to worry about. I’m wondering that as it happened both times when I got to the bridge, that it’s when I have to raise my foot/leg higher to go up the incline? Or perhaps it’s a coincidence. I’ll have to go a different way round and see if it happens ¼ mile in next time.

Apart from that, I’m happy that I managed 3 x 4 mile runs in one week and my legs don’t feel too tired.

At lunch today, I read my stars for the week:

“You can’t realistically expect to keep up the pace at which you are now leading your life. Surely you’ll run out of steam soon? This may not be your opinion, but it is certainly what others seem to be saying. In one way, they are right – but if they think you’re going to stop any time soon, they are mistaken.

You can expect improvements on the domestic front, great results from creative abilities and, to your surprise and delight, success with attempts to give your love life a sweeter flavour.”

Umm, now what do I make of that?

Thinking about it ....

I've had a look at several training schedules and have decided to go with one from Runner's World magazine. It lists runs 4 x week which seems realistic, 3 medium length runs followed by one long run. They then increase in distance gradually over the next few weeks. I've just got to decide which days to do the runs on. I would usually do the long run on a Sunday but have decided that I would rather do it on a Saturday morning - it then means I can have a good time on Saturday night without having to worry about a hangover!

I'm still going to continue with my swimming which I usually do on Monday night (lesson) and I then try to get to the pool twice a week in the morning before going to work. I normally do my weight workout on a Saturday morning but the gym has a weights session on Tuesday evening or Thursday evening so I could move it to then. I usually do a Fitball session (good workout for the core muscles) on a Thursday evening but I think either the Fitball or the weights may need to be dropped - just can't decide which out of the two would be more beneficial to keep. May be I'll do the weights on Tuesday and Fitball Thursday for the first couple of weeks and just see how it goes...

This does sound like a heavy workload but it's pretty much what I've been doing for a while now, just one more extra run but, of course, my runs have been a fair bit shorter and I certainly haven't been doing a long run.